Man Seen On Video Of 3 Slayings Not One On Trial, Lawyer Says

Video of the execution-style shootings of three people in Miramar in 1994 is the best evidence prosecutors have against one of two suspects.

But the defense says the foota at least creates doubt about w ther Pablo lbar had anything to o with the killings and that it may clear him of any involvement in the infamous Casey's Nickeloden case.

In opening statements to jurors Monday, prosecutor Chuck Morton aid that Ibar is one of the killers whose face is clearly shown on the disturbing home-security video that captured the killings.

But lbar's attorney Kayo Morgan took the tape, which is the prosecution's most chilling piece of evidence, and played it for the jury during his opening remarks.

"It's very important evidence to exonerate Pablo," Morgan said.

Morgan said lbar is not the person on the video. He said the defendant has different facial features and a different hairline.

The panel of 16 jurors gave no visible reaction as they watched the video of the home invasion.

Morton said the final 22 minutes in the lives of Casimir "Butch Casey" Sucharski, 48, Sharon Anderson, 25, and Marie Rogers, 25, were terrifying.

lbar, 28, is charged with firstdegree murder for each of the deaths and faces the death penalty if convicted. Seth Penalver, 27, was found guilty of the same charges last year and a jury recommended 12-0 that he be executed. A Broward judge has yet to sentence him.

Sucharski, the well-known owner of a popular Pembroke Park nightclub, brought the two women home with him early Sunday, June 26,1994.

"They could not have known those last 22 minutes would be unnecessarily torturous for them," Morton said.

At 7:18 a.m., two men burst in through the open back door. Morton said Penalver was pointing a Tec-9 semiautomatic weapon and lbar quickly took Sucharski's legally held gun from his bedroom.

After repeatedly beating Sucharski and, forcing the two women to lie on the ground, the two men took turns shooting them.

Over the next six to eight weeks, prosecutors will call witnesses who identified lbar from still shots taken from the video.

"They didn't know the very pictures they were looking at were pictures of murderers walking out of a murder scene," Morton said.

Those witnesses include some of lbar's f riends and a maid who worked for his mother. Police say lbar's mother also identified him but then retracted her identification.

Sucharski's neighbor, Gary Foy, will also testify that he saw lbar as a passenger in Sucharski's car around the time of the killings.

Morgan said Ibar's fingerprints were not found at the scene although the suspect is seen touching items in the house, Other testing of evidence also did not link lbar to the scene.

Morgan told thejurythat police got witnesses to alter their testimony to suit the evidence officers got at the scene.

Tonya Quinones-lbar, who was 16 at the time, will testify as an alibi witness that Ibar was sleeping with her at the time of the killings.

Quinones married Ibar in jail after his first trial ended in a mistrial in 1998. Her sister and cousin also will testify that they saw lbar in her bed around the time of the shootings.

"Pablo was at a place at a time when he could not possibly have been a part of the horror you all got to witness on this video," Morgan told the jurors.

Paula McMahon can be reached at pmcmahon@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4533